


Falling into Flames

by Rennslyaer



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Carnival, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ashke is sweet and Renn is an ass, Fluff, M/M, Piercings, Poi, Tattoos, joint work, poor Eren can't catch a break, so much fluff it'll rot ur fuckin teeth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-04
Updated: 2014-11-24
Packaged: 2018-02-03 10:23:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1741235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rennslyaer/pseuds/Rennslyaer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren and his friends, who are really more of a family, decide to join up with the carnival passing through town together.  Eren tries to stay out of trouble, but when there's people running around with pet tigers, predicting the events of your life with an uncomfortable level of accuracy, and dancers swinging balls of fire around.  You're pretty much guaranteed to singe your favorite pair of pants.  He really liked those ones too, gdi.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bizarre Oddities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren makes some possibly poor life choices...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .~The glorious fic baby of Ashke and Renn~.
> 
> Renn: Made from an RP between me and Ashke, being idiots together and fawning over lil babbies. Gay babbies.  
> ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ LETS GET THIS FUCKIN PARTY STARTED!! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
> 
> \- The rating may go up eventually if either of us feels like writing out the gay filth we think up -

As Eren sat in the portable office, listening to the soft whirring of the AC Unit, he figured this was the best he could do.  There aren't too many places in the world for young kids fresh out of high school, with no work experience, lacking in backup funds or guardians willing to provide them. It’s not like Eren could have asked his foster parents to pay his way through college, even if he had been close with them, which he most certainly was not.  So sitting across from the owner of the carnival that was passing through town seemed like the best place for him to be. Still, Eren couldn’t help but run his hands up and down his shorts, attempting to quell his nerves as the man before continued to talk, probably about something important.  Maybe rules, or what his tasks for his first day were going to be, but Eren couldn't focus on whatever was coming out of the man's mouth. He could have been detailing the events of a mass murder and Eren wouldn't have heard a single word of it. He was too wrapped up in his own thoughts on the appearance of this man.

The carnival owner was nothing like what Eren had always imagined someone in his profession to look like. To put it frankly, the man before him looked like he could have been Captain America, but he went by the name of Erwin Smith. In its own way the name seemed to suit the man, at the very least his last name held the same kind of classic American feel that Rodgers gave off.  Eren had always assumed carnival owners would be large men, balding and with an overall lack of personal hygiene and piss poor manners, but Erwin by contrast had a handsomely chiseled face with a body to match it.  He looked like he belonged in an advertisement for Armani suits more than here in this cramped little office.  His voice was as deep as it was smooth and it made Erwin slightly less intimidating in this whole ordeal.  Job interviews and first days are never a stress free situation, but the kind smile and calm tone Erwin was regarding him with helped Eren with his nerves.

Eren perked up and snapped out of his tangled thoughts at the sound of his name, “…Eren, do you understand everything?" Erwin was looking at him, smiling gently, "You will need to sign these forms to get you documented as an official employee, and then I can introduce you to the man who will be showing you how things work here during the day.”

Eren nodded enthusiastically, silently berating himself for zoning out _._ He watched Erwin straighten a stack of paper before handing it to Eren. Taking them gingerly, Eren looked them over and held in the sigh he desperately needed to release, the stack was heavy and Eren felt more like he was holding a giant white brick rather than whatever he was actually holding.  He reached over for a pen and began to sign his name on each line Erwin indicated, filling in birthdates and other necessary legal information. The process took what felt like an eternity and Eren felt exasperated at the amount of paperwork required for something so simple as a job, why does everything have to be so complicated.

~Four Days Earlier~

"Eren no, absolutely not." Mikasa's voice was stern as she stared pointedly at Eren, disapproval and worry clearly presented in the look she was giving him.  "There is no way you can work for a carnival.  It's not a safe form of work, what if you got injured and couldn't travel with them? What would you do?"

Eren groaned and covered his face in his hands, "honestly Mikasa," barely able to contain how exasperated he was at this point, "I'm not going to do anything stupid while I'm there.  It's not like I’m going to trip over a rock in the dirt and break my hip like some eighty year-old man."  However, as Mikasa's eyes widened even farther as the idea of that possibility settled in her brain Eren threw his hands in the air and groaned in frustration. "Mikasa, I am an adult, you know! I am capable of taking care of myself, I don't need you to babysit me."

"But-"

"He's right, Mikasa," Armin chipped in.

" _Thank you_ , Armin." Eren turned to stare at Armin; glad he was finally receiving some back up against Mikasa's endless fretting. She was always too overprotective; Eren didn't even want to think of the last time he had tried to cook. She had practically ripped the pan from his hands.  Later mumbling something about the dangers of fire and cooking with oil on a gas stove. Very pointedly ignoring the fact that the stove was electric and Eren hadn't even turned on the goddamn thing when she had decided to fly into him.

"Eren may be kind of a klutz but he's not an idiot, he's not going to hurt himself seriously. Well at least he wouldn't do it on purpose, and he has a high enough pain tolerance to deal with it anyway."

"Hey!!" Call him Caesar because he saw the knife now sticking out of his back, thanks a lot _Brutus_.

"What Eren? It's true and you know it." Armin chuckled, but Eren looked back to Mikasa whose face told the brunette that she was possibly contemplating kidnapping to stop him from carrying out his plan.

Eren let out another growl of frustration for what felt like the 100th time that night, "Mikasa, just listen, okay?  This is one of the best options I have now.  I'm not going to go to college, there's no way I could get a scholarship. I don't have the brains for merit scholarships like Armin, and it's way too late to apply for anything anyway."

"There's always next year, Eren," Mikasa trailed off, her eyes now filled less with fear and more with sympathy.  She understood Eren's fears about college perfectly; none of them had been able to find the funds to go right after high school.  Armin had been able to get the offers and the scholarships to go, they had helped and counted every penny, but he had no home to stay in during the school year now that he was turning 18 and no longer going to be a part of the foster system.  None of them did.

"There's no way I could get a fulltime job, or rather the two I would need to help support us, and manage to apply to schools come November.  Where would we even get the money for application fees, time to write all those essays, or the recommendations?"  Mikasa looked down, guilt obvious in her eyes.

"But working at a carnival is so dangerous...” She looked up at Eren who had pressed his palm onto his face with yet another groan before the words even left her mouth. She glanced at Armin, "If Eren joins I am too."

"Mikasa, you don't have to follow me everywhere I go.  Come on, you need to live your own life."

"I'm going to join too," Armin set down his book and stared intently at his friends.

"Armin for the love of god, stop encouraging her!"

"Eren, it's a traveling carnival, when do you think the next time it's going to be here in New Orleans will be?"  Eren's jaw snapped shut and he narrowed his eyes; he fucking hated it when Armin used logic. _That’s not fighting fair, dick_. "Exactly. I don't want you to fall out of my life any more than Mikasa does, Eren. We're a family. We have to stick together." Armin's face softened and grabbed the hands of the two sitting with him.  "Besides you need Mikasa to keep you safe and me to keep you from doing anything _too_ stupid."

"Well fuck you too Armin, _wow_ , and I thought we were a family."

"It's the number one job of family to call the rest of the family stupid, _stupid_." Armin was grinning like the coconut headed jerk that he was and Mikasa was trying, and failing, to contain her laughter.

~~~~~~~

Half an hour after Eren had begun the trial of dedication called W4 forms, liability waivers, company issued health insurance, and direct deposit authorizations and Eren was finally stepping out of the trailer with Erwin.  It took every ounce of Eren’s self-control not to turn back around and beg on his fucking knees for Erwin to let him stay in the air-conditioned haven that was the man's makeshift office.  It was the peak of the Louisiana summer and no one could step outside for more than a few minutes without looking like they had just come out of the shower. The heat on its own wouldn't have been too much of a problem, but the air was so thick with humidity it was suffocating. Eren quickly wiped away the sweat that had already begun to form on his forehead, feeling his hair becoming more damp every second he was out of that office.

“Eren, if you will follow me, I’ll take you to Levi.  He's one of the oldest members of the group that works here and he'll be the one to show you around.  Trust him, he knows how things work around here better than most.”

Eren nodded and followed Erwin through the carnival, mulling over the idea of the man he was about to be handed off to. The carnival itself was an intertwining maze and Eren was sure he was going to get lost here on more than one occasion. There were endless streams of people walking past him and many of the paths Erwin had them taking were only a few feet wide and had been formed between the walls of tents and portable buildings. Luckily Erwin was not difficult to follow due to his broad back, it was easy for Eren to keep track of him in the seas of people and narrow passages.

“So... boss, can you tell me what Levi is like? You know, so that I don’t accidentally offend him or something.”

Eren shoved his hands into the pockets of his shorts, trying not to show how nervous he was. He looked up sharply when he heard a low chuckle from the man in front of him.  Eren was almost afraid to ask why Erwin was laughing, but he didn’t find himself waiting for an answer for very long.

“Levi,” The blond chuckled again. “Well, Levi is an interesting character. Honestly, nothing I say will properly prepare you, but I will say to refrain from commenting on his height.” Eren noticed the taller man attempt to suppress a smirk; this had to be some kind of inside joke. Regardless, Eren thought it would be better than to tempt fate by asking Levi about it when he met him. He was kind of frustrated with the overall lack of information he had been given about his mentor, but as they slowed down and almost come to a halt, Eren understood why.

Eren bit down on his lower lip anxiously as Erwin waved and preceded to call out to someone, “Levi! I have someone that I think you should meet!”  Eren stopped in his tracks as a male, who Eren could only guess was Levi, came into view.

. | ~ | .

Levi looked over his shoulder when he heard fucking  ~~Steve Rodgers~~  Erwin calling his name. Levi didn't particularly have a problem with Erwin, but seeing him on a day like this instantly turned the dial up on his already bad mood.  It was too hot and too disgustingly wet to be in anything but a bad mood, even if Levi wouldn't have been in a good mood with perfect weather.  The air today was like an overly friendly guest with its hands all over anyone who didn't have an air-conditioned refuge, meaning everyone except Erwin.   _Asshole._

The real source of the annoyance caused by Erwin's approach however, was the boy he was bringing with him. Levi felt himself hard pressed to have any kind of interest in a kid like the one Erwin had brought before him. The boy looked like he belonged back in a classroom learning about things he would never use in daily life, like who won a war back in the time before civilization, higher-level calculus, and the day some ancient old fuck had finally kicked the bucket.

The kid was sweating up a storm, obviously about as sure of his surroundings as a dead cat would be of its.  Levi narrowed his eyes,  _oh fuck me,_ he finally realized exactly how Erwin was going to ruin the rest of his fucking week _._

"No."

"Levi, this is Eren.  You will be showing him the ropes," Erwin's lips twitched slightly "so to speak."

Levi's face instantly turned from annoyance to outright disgust.  "Fuck you, fuck your stupid puns, and fuck your eyebrows.  You are not making me a god damn babysitter."  Levi gave the kid a quick once over, he looked like any one of the fifty or so new kids that already had join up with the Carnival this year.  But just like every year before all but about 3 or 4 had run back home to their mommies and daddies, tails between their legs, after just a week of being shown the real meaning of hard labor.  "Give him to someone else, Hanji's been in need of a new toy anyway. I have work to do, this brat is only going to get in my way."  Eren had blanched at the outright disdain Levi was showing towards him, obviously unprepared for the outright rudeness that had been thrown in his face.

"Don’t be like that, Levi. Hanji already has a new apprentice, plus Eren will be a hard worker.  If it doesn’t work out, I can find someone else to put him under." Erwin's smile may have the kid fooled but Levi understood the silent, but very real, threat that was laced into that mask.  Erwin wasn't going to give him a choice with this.

Levi noted the way the kid rubbed his hands up and down the side of his shorts in an obvious effort to rid himself of nerves before he stepped forward and extended his right hand towards the shorter man.  The boy gave Levi what appeared to be a genuine, all be it strained smile. "Hello Levi. It’s nice to meet you. I promise I’ll work hard, you don't need to worry about me not pulling my weight."

Levi's entire body began to radiate sarcasm as he stared at the kid's attempt at pleasantries, "uhuh."  He grunted at the boy one of his thin brows nearly disappearing into his bangs. He turned back to the human tank, shooting daggers with narrowed silver eyes, "You want him to quit in three days? That's your shit to deal with but don't come crying to me when he flakes out right before a show."  Levi turned to the kid and raked a hand through his hair, letting out huff of air that sounded a little bit too much like a growl for anyone else's comfort.

He finally gave the boy a more than a halfhearted glance and actually looked at him this time.  The kid had some gorgeous eyes, mismatching, a little big and doe-like for a guy maybe, but each one had a unique hue that complimented the other. One was some shade green Levi didn't have a name for the other a rather common shade of blue. Levi raised his right hand and pinched the bridge of his nose letting out a long sigh.  He let his hand fall to his side and turned his glare back on the kid.  "Alright brat, come with me and I'll show you the basics of working the carousel.  At least then if you manage to fuck up no one gets a free law suit at my expense."

Levi shot one last glare at Erwin, _fucking tool_ , and grabbed his bag. He then none too gently threw one of the many spare water bottles he had tucked away at Eren, promptly turning around and walking in the direction of the ride.  "You going to move, brat?  Or do you intend to stand there for the rest of the day?"  He shouted over his shoulder without changing pace or even bothering to look back at the stunned child behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Renn: Thanks for reading guys! This is gonna move kinda slow honestly but I promise we're gonna TRY to be entertaining and funny for most of the ride.  
> You can find my tumblr here - http://rennslyaer.tumblr.com//  
> if u want to look at. I guess. It's really nothing but gay... actually tho...  
> Also thank Ashke for keeping this fic happy and sweet, if I had my way Eren would have broken legs by chapter 3 (⊙‿⊙✿) 
> 
> Ashke: I hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoy writing it.  
> Tumblr - http://hanjisbitch.tumblr.com/


	2. Rust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren learns how to push buttons.

Eren had dropped his hand and glared at the asshole who apparently hadn't heard of common fucking decency.  Eren's whole body shook with anger; he did his best to remain calm and control his temper.  He couldn't go off on someone, even if they were a massive prick.  He was barely five seconds into his first day.  God, what would Mikasa do to him if he decked this fucking gnome not two minutes after getting hired.  But seriously, had this guy never heard of manners in his entire life?  It’s not like it had been Eren’s choice to be put under him, so why did he have to have such a stick up his ass about the situation.  There was no way anyone with a working brain would purposely choose to be under such an abrasive dickhole.

However, Eren felt his anger dissipate when Levi looked him dead in the face and he was given a good look at the dick's face. _Damn_.  Eren had become very accustomed to people staring at his own eyes, it was just a given when they two little balls in your head didn't exactly match, but he didn't think he'd ever met someone else with unusually colored eyes.  ~~Shitlord's~~ Levi's eyes looked like they were silver.  No.  They were probably just a shade of blue, but Eren swore they looked just like steel. Not to mention, if this guy wasn’t such a malicious fuck nugget, Eren would probably have found him to be on the better side of the _hot damn_ scale.  But you know, he **is** an asshole, so yeah. Not gonna touch that with a ten-foot pole.

"Alright brat, come with me and I'll show you the basics of working the carousel.  At least then if you manage to fuck up no one gets a free law suit at my expense."

It was apparent that wherever Levi had grown up, it was obviously a custom to be as rude as fucking physically possible.  Eren briefly wondered _how_ so much dickishness could have been compacted into that pint-sized body.  He prepared to open his mouth and spout out something to this jerk but as he drew in breath a goddamn water bottle flew into his face.  Eren managed to protect his face from the sudden plastic assault, but then proceeded to fumble with the bottle, nearly dropping it three ~~or four~~ times.

Eren felt unsure of what to do really after he caught the water bottle Levi had tossed, well more like hurled, in his direction. Even though the water wasn’t particularly cold, Eren downed it like it was the only drink he'd had in months. The heat was taking its toll, how could anyone work out side in this kind of heat on a regular basis. Dear climate change, I know you're busy killing polar bears but could you hurry up and freeze the fucking planet so we don't have to die in a puddle of our own sweat, thank you.

Eren looked over to Erwin as Levi began to zoom across the ground as though he was on wheels.  Erwin chuckled lightly, "better go after him before you lose him, Eren, he's not exactly easy to spot in a crowd."

"Uh y-yea."  Eren nodded to Erwin and ran after Levi.  Glancing back briefly to see that Erwin had already disappeared. Was everyone here going to be a fucking Houdini?  He did his best to follow the shorter male as he began to swerve through the carnival at a greater speed than Erwin had earlier.  Eren prayed to whatever deity was out there that he didn’t fuck this up.

Levi led him through the labyrinth of narrow passages and  ~~probably intentional~~ walkways of the carnival towards wherever the fuck Levi had decided to take him. Levi never slowed down, but Eren did notice that every so often the man would glance over his shoulder to make sure Eren was still behind him.  But even when Eren was lagging behind, the man leading him didn't give him any sort of way to catch up.  Like you know, maybe slowing the fuck down for three seconds.

Eren nearly ran into Levi as the man came to a halt at their destination.  He would have lost him in the sea of children if not for that ridiculous ~~gorgeous~~ haircut he had. Eren looked up at the carousel, the thing looked about as safe as any other ride he had seen at the carnival. It was clearly rusted and the paint was so faded that so faded it might as well have not even been there. It had obviously worn away from years of abuse by loud children with no respect for the property of others.

That can’t possibly be safe for people to ride on. How something like this was even legal, and how there weren't twenty or so cops here shutting down the carnival for the fifty million safety regulation violations on this ride alone?

Eren stared at the ride for a while longer, and felt himself smiling despite the silent hill feel it would give off as soon as it got dark. Somehow the old hunk of machinery still managed to give off a warm wave of nostalgia.  Though a good makeover of the behemoth wouldn't hurt.

As Eren remained absorbed in the carousel, Levi motioned to the strawberry blond working the controls.  "Hey Petra! I need to train the new kid how to be useful. Go harass Erwin for something else to do, I gotta make sure the kid doesn't fucking cripple anyone on his first day."

The girl, Petra, turned her head in their direction and fixed Levi with a look of annoyance, "Alright, just gimmie a sec, and Levi, watch the language there are kids on this ride!" Levi scoffed and rolled his eyes at her.  Eren did his best to hold in a laugh at the way the girl had just scolded Levi like a mother would a disobedient child.  Well Levi had the height to play the part anyway.  The girl turned away from them and messed with the control panel in front of her, looking back up at the carousel as it began to slow.

Levi snapped his fingers in front of Eren's face. "Hey, stop zoning out and fucking pay attention."  Eren glared at the shorter man, only to yet again be completely brushed off as Levi ignored him and made his way to Petra had been standing.

"Asshole," Eren grumbled under his breath as followed after Levi.  Watching as Petra helped the smaller children climb off of the various animals affixed to the poles. As soon as she had finished kindly ushering the little children away from the ride much like a mother goose would her goslings she ran over to the boys, a huge grin on her face.

"Hey there new kid!" Eren could already tell he was going to like Petra more than the others he had already met, namely the shorter one. "My name is Petra, it's wonderful to meet you." She rubbed her hand on her hip quickly before extending it to the young boy.

“Hey, Petra.  My name's Eren."  Eren couldn't help but smile back at her.  Reaching out to accept her friendly gesture, grateful someone here besides Erwin had at least a basic understanding of manners. 

"I hope Levi hasn't given you too much grief already, he may act like an ass most of the time," she fixed Levi with a pointed glare before turning back to Eren with that smile that probably summoned three kittens into the world every time she made it, "but I promise that he's not that bad, I blame the weather.  It's putting everyone in a bad mood."

Eren had to laugh at that one.  "I really hope you’re right about that, I was starting to think that this was just how he is.” 

Petra giggled as Levi’s face twisted into murder. "For your information  _brat_ , this is  _just how I am_.”  Eren swallowed nervously as he realized his mistake. Open mouth insert foot, prepare for death in t minus five seconds, so long and thanks for all the fish motherfucker. Who knew someone that was several inches shorter than you could send you from laughter to fight or flight response in ten words or less.

Eren opened his mouth attempting to get out some form of apology that would hopefully spare him leaving work on day one covered in bruises "I-"

"If you have a problem with _my attitude_ ," Levi cut him off, "you can go crying back to Erwin. I don’t have time to coddle you and your precious feelings." Levi turned to glare at Petra, who was looking away trying to hide the fact that she was still giggling.  "Now, if you don’t mind Petra I’d like to show this kid how to do the job he was fucking hired for.  That is, if you two are done having your girl talk."

Petra let out a hearty laugh, Eren stared at her dumbfounded, why wasn’t she terrified by the amount of rage coming off of the man before them. "Yea, yea I’m going.  Calm down, Levi.” She said, rolling her eyes, "be nice to the kid though okay? We don’t need you throwing him off the Ferris wheel on his first day."

Eren laughed before noticing the serious look Petra was fixing Levi with, who looked far too deep in thought about the idea for comfort. "Wait, Petra. You're kidding about that last bit, right?"

"Don’t let him get to you, Eren, you’re gonna do great!" Eren felt the color drain from his face as she promptly changed the subject.  "I’ll see you around later tonight alright? Let me know how everything goes. I can’t wait to see what you bring to the show, Eren."  She winked disappearing into the crowd before Eren could say goodbye or request a better explanation about that earlier comment. Seriously, that was going to get really annoying.

Anyway, what had she meant by bringing something to the show, had Erwin talked to him about any shows?  Was he supposed to put on an act or something?  Like juggling or tightrope walking?  He debated on asking Levi, but quickly decided against it. Not really feeling like opening himself up to yet another verbal assault.

Eren was startled out of his thoughts as he heard Levi clear his throat loudly, obviously still irritated, "So brat, do you have any idea how to work any of this crap?"

As green and blue eyes met grey, Eren had to keep himself from nervously swallowing again.  Levi looked like he was seriously plotting the best way to murder him within the next couple of hours.  Eren let out a laugh that shook more than he would have liked.  If Eren's fear of this man hadn't been obvious a few seconds ago, it most definitely was now.  Eren quickly brought his hand up to the back of his neck and rubbed along his nape nervously, trying to avoid eye contact, “Uh, no."  Why the fuck would he know how to use something like this?

Levi only grunted in response and turned back to the control panel. "Alright, go let the guests onto the ride and I’ll show you the controls when you've got all the kids in their seats.  It's all very simple," he looked up to Eren looking thoroughly bored as crossed his arms. "Try not to act like a dumbfuck and ruin some five year old’s day."

Eren made his way to the railing where a long line of people had formed, all waiting to get on the ride.  As he was about to start letting people in, Eren came to the realization that he had about as good a guess of how many people were allowed on this ~~death trap~~ ride as he did guessing the correct translation for a speech written in Anglo-Saxon. So basically fuck all. Eren nervously glanced back at Levi. The man was paying him no mind, instead rooting through the large bag he had been carrying with him, obviously in search of something important.

Eren looked around for something that might save him from looking like a complete and total idiot in front of someone who already thought he had the intelligence of a dead fish.  After frantically looking around for something, anything really, to save his ass he noticed the maximum capacity sign, right there in front of him. On the gate he had literally just walked up to.  He smacked his palm into his face and held in a groan.  Eren thanked god for letting him notice the sign, promising to never make a joke about Levi's height for the rest of his life, so long as Armin never caught wind of this.  He would never let Eren live it down, just like the time he had let Armin convince him cats could see in the ultra violet spectrum. Stupid coconut head, literally the worst friend ever.

Eren smiled as he opened the gate and counted the permitted 24 visitors, “Hey! Sorry for the wait, we had a shift change." Eren let the people file in slowly, doing his best to reassure the children who had missed this turn that they would be getting on soon and that they would get an extra long ride for all their patience and good behavior.

After checking that all the children were seated properly, a few of them were bouncing in their seats with parents who, while looking drained and near death from heat stroke, were smiling lovingly at their kids. He felt his heart sting slightly, as wonderful as it was to see all these kids happy, and as much it brought him some joy as well, he couldn't help but feel a little jealous. Eren shook his head he needed to focus.

Eren went back over to the control panel and Levi, who was rubbing something on his hands.  He crinkled his nose as he got closer, hand sanitizer.  “Okay, all the kids are seated.  How do I turn the thing on?”

Levi ignored him and opted to stretch his arms out in front of himself and cracked his knuckles in the process.  Eren watched Levi's arms flex admiring the sheer amount of muscle definition the guy had.  As Eren stared at Levi he finally noticed what looked like unfinished tattoo sleeves running down his arms.  Award for the most observant person of the year goes to Eren Yeager for not noticing things _directly in front of his face_. "Alright kid," Eren quickly looked up to Levi's face, about fifty different excuses about admiring his tattoos running through his head all at once, "this here starts up the carousel," oh thank god, Eren almost mumbled to himself as Levi jabbed a finger at the button in the center of the console. "It also double functions as the stop, confusing I know but just let your brain soak as much in as you can handle."

Eren glared at Levi "I got it, I'm not an idiot. I understand how to use a button."

Levi simply waved his hand dismissively and ignored him. He motioned to a few other switches as he explained the console saying something about the music and lights while Eren's eyes zeroed back onto his tattoos.

Eren did his best focus back onto Levi's voice instead of those arms as he placed his hand just above the lever that rested on the floor by the console.  "This here is the emergency stop, just incase some shit breaks and you don’t have time for this fuckin’ lard ass of a machine to slow down." He looked Eren dead in the eyes " _Do not_  use it if you don’t need to, or Erwin will lynch you _and me_  from the fuckin’ tightropes come next show."

Eren shuddered at the thought, even thinking about the distance to the ground was- no enough of that he needed to focus on something else. He looked around for something and focused in on the control panel.  "Can I...?" Eren pointed at the console and Levi stared at him for a moment before stepping back to allow Eren to take over.

As Eren began to poke around on the console, obviously attempting to get a better feel for it Levi glanced over to the ride's entrance. There weren’t too many guests present for now.  "When you don’t have a line you let the lil shits stay on for as long as you think they’re havin’ fun." Eren looked up as he heard Levi begin to speak.  "But don’t keep them on too long or they might get sick.  Try and keep it from two to five minutes, two when it’s busy and five when the line is slow." Eren nodded, grinning like a kid who had been let into a candy store unsupervised.

"Alright, seems easy enough." Levi made an annoyed sort of noise, probably in affirmation, well at least Eren decided to take it that way anyway.  He looked back to the console and flipped the switches for the music and lights, hesitating for a moment before tentatively pressing the center button.  He felt himself smile as he heard the children squeal, or maybe that was the machinery, as the carousel sprang to life.

As Eren watched the carousel slowly begin to spin around, Levi stepped back and leaned against the railing looking off into the crowd of carnival goers.  Eren glanced over at him and noticed the man wasn’t touching anything with his bare skin. With the shear amount of exposed skin he had in this heat it seemed a little, well _weird_ but okay.  He shook his head and listened to the song of the carousel drifting over the other ambient sounds of the carnival.

"Oh yea," Eren turned back to look at Levi as he spoke again, "don't ever eat the fair food."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ashke: I hope you liked this chapter. I love their interactions, it's so entertaining. :3
> 
> Renn: Sorry this took so long despite the shortness of the chapter. I was grumpy about it, and wouldn't stop editing it. (눈_눈)


	3. Sparks Fly Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren acts rashly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ashke: Sooooooooorry for such a long wait. ;-;  
> Renn: I am also so sorry this is actually all my fault im sorry im lazy. Thank ashke for making me move my ass.

As if on cue to Levi's comment, Eren's stomach growled, he was glad the carousel was loud enough to cover up the demonic rumbling.  Eren glanced at the clock on his phone, it was well past noon and he hadn't eaten anything since the makeshift breakfast Mikasa had forced on him this morning. He had refused the packed lunch she had made out of embarrassment and made an adamant statement that "he was an adult, and adults don't have their sisters make them lunches like they're back in first grade."

 _Well shit._ He shifted on his feet and tried to distract himself by staring at the carousel _._

Eren watched as the carousel spun around slowly, listening to the music and the laughter and joyous squealing of the children on the ride.  He smiled as he looked at the scene.  Completely forgetting about the rust and occasional disturbing sound of grinding noises coming from the ride as it lumbered forward.  All he could think about was how happy all of the children looked as they rose into the air on their respective animals before being gently lowered back down, slowly turning.

It was kind of rewarding to know that he was a part of something that was bringing others happiness, even when it was hot and the weather was almost unbearable.  Eren continued to watch the carousel move around doing his best to keep track of how long he had been letting it run.

After a minute or so he glanced over his shoulder to silently observe the man behind him, no longer caught up in the laughter of the people around them or the slow tune of the carousel. Levi was fanning himself with his hand in an obvious attempt to break the heat.  Not that it was effective in this humidity; it probably didn’t actually help at all.  But in the end with people it really is only the thought that counts.

Eren watched as Levi finally gave up, sighing before reaching up to wipe the sweat off his forehead and push his hair back.  Eren felt himself frown. Why does someone who looks that good have to be _that_ much of an asshole? Seriously universe, that's just not fucking cool.  True injustice.

Eren jumped slightly and quickly looked back to the yelling children when he noticed Levi was staring back at him, well, more like glaring.  Maybe Levi had chronic bitch face or something, or maybe he really did have a stick up his ass.  He should really go see a doctor about getting that removed, there's no way having a stick in your butt could be healthy.

Time passed quickly, Levi continued to lean with his back against the railing and Eren felt a pair of angry eyes boring into his back.  He was doing his best to focus on the carousel and the time and not the perpetually angry midget behind him.

 

* * *

 

People came and went as the day passed, the line fluctuating in size like an endless tide even as the sun began to break past the meridian.  Eren did his best to still let kids spend a couple minutes on the ride even when the line was long.  As people moved through the line he watched several groups of teenagers come and go amongst the hordes of small children and preteens.

Most were couples, boys and girls hanging off one another.  Spewing PDA all over each other.  Eren wanted to vomit when one of them let the words "shmoopy poh" slip out of their mouth. 

Surprisingly, the vast majority of the teenagers were well behaved and no louder than the kids, well besides the ones attached at the face like a pair of anglerfish. Eren could ignore the face sucking, as long as he focused on the harsh creaking and occasional ominous thud of something shifting inside of the machine. He _didn't_ start imagining one of them unhinging their jaw and devouring the other like some sort of insect abomination from a horror movie. Man, that movie had been awesome. Armin turned green and Mikasa called him Elfaba, whatever that meant.

Eren felt his smile falter when he noticed the next group of kids getting onto the ride. They were swinging around on the bars and kicking the carousel as they moved to their seats. Eren glanced over to Levi nervously. Wondering if he should maybe say something, but he looked just as disinterested with the situation as a child being read the 6 o'clock news.  He sighed and began to start up the ride.

When he looked up from the controls he saw one of the kids spit off the carousel and into the crowd. "Hey!" He shouted over the music of the ride, expression livid, "don't spit off the ride! What the hell's wrong with you?!"

One of the other kids turned in his seat to stare at Eren as he promptly spat onto the carousel. He looked back up with a shit eating grin on his face, then moved his hand into his pocket and with mock surprise raised his hand back up to complete his show of flipping Eren off. The entire group started laughing as the ride spun them around and away from him.  Eren clenched his fists, hearing his knuckles crack.  The urge to knock that shit-eating grin off that shit lord with a bad two-tone haircut was starting to override reason.

Eren vaguely wondered in the back of his mind as the machine began to bring the target back into sight if carnivals attracted people with weird fucking haircuts.

As they came full circle and neared the control panel again Eren moved to turn off the ride, but before he could even reach the button he felt himself shoved away from the console as Levi jumped onto the carousel.  He moved straight towards the one with the stupid hair and threw him off the horse he had been riding.  The kid was easily a full foot taller than Levi and he had tossed him like he was a bag of dirty laundry. Eren tried to keep his eyes on them as they cycled around the center of the carousel, but as they passed out of his sight he could sear he hear a rather loud smack and a high pitched squeal. As they came back around he saw Levi looming over the teen who was apparently attempting to become a contortionist in the near future.

"Off." He spat at the kid, who scrambled to his feet before losing his balance and promptly reintroducing his face to the floor.  Obviously forgetting that he was still on a moving object.

Eren stopped the carousel after he noticed Levi was looking him with one brow raised. He held in a laugh as he watched the kids ruffle their feathers like a group of angry roosters and storm off. Levi was scowling again by the time he walked back over, looking at Eren with annoyance.  "Stop staring off into space and let the next group on, you look like a fucking idiot." Well goodbye my less horrific opinion of Levi, it was nice having you for the five seconds you stayed around for.

Eren rolled his eyes before moving to let in the next group of young kids.  The sun shifted to the other end of the horizon, shadows elongated across the ground.  Eren switched on the lights once he deemed it was dark enough for them to actually make a difference. His stomach was aching, why couldn't he have just sucked it up and taken the lunch Mikasa had tried to give him earlier.  At this rate he wasn't going to get any food till he met up with both his friends after Levi deemed it time to release him.

 **"Hey, brat." Eren was startled out of his thoughts as** Levi waved a hand in front of his face.

"Uh, did I do something wrong?"

**"Go wander around the Carnival a bit and get to know where everything is.  There is no way anyone here could possibly map it for you and you’re not gonna have the luxury of being able to be slow or get lost so get familiar with how to get to places fast. I’ll manage the carousel, just don’t get _actually_ lost and for the love of Christ, _do not_ start anything."**

**Eren felt his eyes narrow at the last comment, it's not like he was going to start a fight in the middle of the carnival for no reason. After all, Levi had been the one to jump onto a moving object to throw around teenagers like hacky-sacks, not him.** Still, Eren was kind of relieved that Levi was letting him go, he was pretty sure he could feel his stomach trying to eat itself at this point.

"Uh, yeah, okay. Thanks." Eren watched curiously as Levi reached into his bag, obviously searching for something.  Levi paused in his search when he felt the younger's eyes boring on him, he turned to glance over his shoulder at Eren, well _glare_ at him. Eren quickly looked away with an awkward cough, feeling Levi's eyes burn holes into the back of his head as he attempted to make his brain start functioning, what was he doing again? Right, explore the carnival, don't get lost, and don’t start fights.

Eren turned around and climbed over the carousel’s guardrail before Levi could do something other than look at him, the last thing he needed was to be seen with bruises. Mikasa's warpaths are no fucking joke.

Eren looked around the carnival; it was amazing how much the night had shifted its appearance. The areas that had look the shabbiest and somewhat worrying in terms of safety now looked almost magical under the carnival lights.  He felt like he had been dropped into a wonderland of flashing lights and laughter, maybe this is what Disney land was like at night.  From the pictures he had seen it definitely held similar esthetic, or at least he felt so.

There were so many people; it was a wonder that they could all fit into one place.  On more than one occasion he had to dodge a small child racing past him, anxiety-ridden parents in tow, shouting after them to slow down. Several of them ran headlong into his shin, Eren chuckled as their parents frantically apologized and attempted to lasso their children back to their side.  It was good to see so many kids laughing, happy, and safe. Even if their parents were yelling and looked about two minutes from a stress induced heart attack.

He used to resent the other kids at school when he was younger, it seemed like everyone around him had a loving mother and father, or a grandparent, or even an aunt. Just, they had someone. The only time he didn't feel like a strange alien creature was at his current foster home, but none of those had exactly been a happy fun place full of unicorns and kittens either. Just because you knew you belonged in the box of broken toys didn't make it less painful when you were thrown away.

Eren thought of how crowded kids at school had told him that places like Disney world could get when school was out, and while the carnival was certainly not even close to the grandeur of something like Disney or Universal, he couldn't help but grin like an idiot as he moved through the crowd, admiring the rides.  This was enough.

He watched a small toddler sounding out the rules on one of the signs in front of a ride her mother smiling and pointing to the letters sounding them out with her. Eren wished he had been able to go college. He would have loved to be a teacher, sure he'd still be poor, but working with kids was kind of a dream of his. Being able to be a type of support for them and encouraging them was something he loved. He wanted to make a difference in this world and people forget that children are the going to be the ones deciding how the world changes in the future.  Not only that, Eren wanted to be to help foster kids.  He wanted to show them that a life in and out of the system doesn’t equate to an unhappy future, hope must be kept at all costs.

But college is expensive, and getting a degree in education isn't the only thing you need to become a teacher. It's a long process, without any form of good pay.  Money was the one thing he and his friends had to plan everything in life around. How much money you had stored away determined how much food you could eat, how many days you could take off sick a year, how many Advil you could take for your fever before you just had to work through it.  It ruled everything, and always would unless one of them managed to win the lottery. Yeah right, that'll happen the day Mikasa sprouts a dick and starts going by Frank.

Eren looked around before freezing in his tracks, he had wandered to a completely unfamiliar area. How had he even gotten here, he hadn't been paying any attention.  Too preoccupied with introspection and daydreams.  Armin must never hear of this.

But all thoughts of possible humiliation and nagging flew out of his mind when he took a deep breath. Eren could smell food everywhere, it was driving him insane, _and maybe Levi was just being over-dramatic about the fair food.  It's not like one batch of fried dough could kill him, right? No, no way.  His stomach was made of steel; he could handle anything the carnival threw at him._

He looked around as he continued through the maze of rides and food vendors.   _Food, food, food.  He peered at the signs above each of the stands, they were covered in lights and painted depictions of the food they probably? served._ Eren was lost in thoughts about hot dogs, smoothies, and wondering what the hell funnel cakes were when he heard something that stopped him in his tracks.

"I said go away! Don’t you understand the word no?!"

"Oh c’mon, baby, don’t be like that. I just want to have a little fun, it's a great night to just let loose right?"

Eren turned to see a drunken man cornering a petite girl behind one of the tents. Eren made a step towards the pair before he remembered Levi's bitching about not starting a fight.

"I told you to **back off** , asshole!"

He couldn't just stand here and let this happen, that wasn't right either.  Even Levi had stepped in earlier when-

"Look here bitch, I'm just trying to be nice and show you a good time!"

He was moving towards them as fast as he could.

"I **told** you, I'm **not** interested, fuckwad!" She snapped

"The fuck did you just say to me you ungrateful little whore?!"

Eren watched as the man raised his hand and that was all he needed to get his feet moving. He ran up and caught the man’s arm as it was swinging down. “Hey, buddy.”

The man turned around and Eren let go of the guy’s arm as he watched the anger shift to him.  _Good._

"Who the fuck are you?" the man seethed.

Eren gestured towards the girl that was shaking with anger and fear behind the drunk, “I believe she told you she's not interested in going anywhere with you. Why don’t you go and find a ride or show and leave her alone?” 

The man straightened his posture now towering over Eren, “What’s it to you what I do? I don't remember her asking you to come over and interrupt our fucking conversation!”

Eren wasn’t in the least perturbed by the differences in height.  This idiot would be no problem; he'd handled far bigger and far smarter assholes before this.  He cracked his knuckles and gave the man a less than pleasant smile, “Maybe not, but I thought I should just be a decent human being and step in."  He looked the man up and down and scoffed, "seems like you’re failing at that rather spectacularly yourself.” 

"Why, you-" The man didn’t finish his sentence before swinging his fist towards Eren's skull. Eren cursed his poor reflexes, he was only able to dodge just enough that the hit connected with his cheek rather than his eye.  This is why he should have listened to Mikasa and kept practicing, you neglect the little stuff and it bites you in the ass later.  The brute before him seemed surprised that he had been able to move, albeit only slightly, out of the way of his assault.  Eren took the opportunity to return the favor and slammed his fist into the man's nose before the other could blink. A sickening crack and pained yell came from the drunk as he stumbled back and fell onto his ass, hands clenching his nose. The scent of iron in the air made his stomach clench, he had hit harder than he'd meant to, the guy’s nose was probably broken.  Wanting to avoid a possible assault charge or any form of consequence, Eren ushered the girl away from the area.  After they had both made their way into the large crowd of people he checked to made sure she was okay. She waved her hand dismissively.

"I'm fine, but thanks. That guy was a serious dick." She bit her lip as she looked at his face.  "You need to get that checked out though okay? I think he might have been wearing rings."

Eren raised a hand to his cheek and winced, now that he was paying attention to it he could feel the cuts on his face bleeding; and of course shortly after that he felt the pain start to seep in.  He looked back at the girl who looked worried and was fiddling with her cell.  "I'm fine" he gave her a warm smile, "don't worry about me, I'll be fine. You just go find your friends and have fun." She worried her lip for a moment longer before nodding and waving as she disappeared into the crowd.

He was standing in front of a couple of food vendors when he heard his name called.  Now for the love of god, he could get something to-

"Eren! Eren!"

Petra was moving towards him as a brisk jog, waving her hand enthusiastically that same smile stuck on her face again. Eren felt himself smiling as he gave her a small wave back, “Hey Petra, what’s up?”

Petra's smile disappeared as she got close, her expression turning to one of great concern once she had a clear view of his face.  “What the hell happened to your cheek, Eren?"  She reached up and took a hold of his jaw; he winced as she turned his head to get a better look at the cuts.  "My god, Eren, you're bleeding."  She sounded as if he was a puppy that had been kicked and not a grown ass man who could take care of himself. 

"Petra I'm fine, it's really not that bad.  Some drunk asshole took a swing at me, it's really no big deal" He felt a particularly painful throb as she squeezed his face a little too tightly between her hands.

"No way. I need to get you need to get cleaned up, and that needed to be disinfected five minutes ago, come on.” She grabbed at his hand and began to drag him after her.

Eren grimaced and pressed a hand to the throbbing cheek as he was dragged along after the short mother hen. The hit had definitely hurt like hell, but he didn’t think it could be that bad, it definitely didn't feel like he'd broken anything at least.

Petra dragged Eren to the back of a large tent, probably one used for some sort of ticketed event, maybe. She gestured for him to sit in a chair while she moved out of sight. Eren leaned back with a heavy sigh and winced when he felt a painful twinge in his cheek, bring his hand back up to the injury.

"Do not touch it. Your hands aren't clean!" Eren rolled his eyes as Petra returned with a first aid kit tucked under her arm.

"Sorry, sorry.” Eren dropped his hand back down into his lap, surrendering to Petra’s will.

"I swear. Do boys not understand that you can’t just go poking at wounds without at least cleaning your hands?" She shook her head at him as she opened up the kit and began to dab the disinfectant onto the cut.

"Hey, I’m not a bo- ow shit that hurts."  Eren felt himself grimace as the disinfectant began to burn away into the wound.

"Men can be boys too and no cursing."

Eren rolled his eyes with as much attitude as physically possible, probably proving Petra’s point to a T. She ignored him and started to dab the liquid agony around the cut again.

"Was he wearing rings or something?  This cut is really nasty." Petra asked, her face was tightened with concern as she looked for any more openings in his skin. 

Eren tried to recall if he saw any rings on the man’s hands, he didn’t even think to look at the guy’s hands before or after the fight.  It wasn't exactly a priority at the time, but he thought the girl had mentioned something about the guy wearing rings before he had urged her to go off into the crowd. When he noticed Petra was still staring at him expectantly he shrugged before speaking up, “I don’t know, honestly I wasn't paying attention to that at the time... Is it really that bad?” He winced as she rubbed an alcohol wipe across the cut again.

"It’s bad, but I think it’ll heal okay. You might have a scar from it." She reached back into her kit before retrieving some Neosporin and applying it to the cut. Once she deemed her work satisfactory she placed a patch of gauze over the injury and attached it to his face with a few pieces of medical tape. "Okay, there you go. Good as new.  Kind of."

Eren smiled at the strawberry blonde, “Thank you, Petra.” He was glad he met someone so kind, even if she was a bit overbearing. That kind of motherly attitude was nice, as long as she didn't grab him by the ear. That would just be plain mean.

She smiled warmly at him, “It’s no problem Eren, really.  Just try to avoid any more fights. That kind of stuff can get you kicked out in no time.” Eren nodded biting his lip; he really hadn't meant to get into a fight.  When he looked back to Petra she was staring at her watch, her eyes wide with glee.  She looked up to meet Eren's eyes with her own, with a grin that was describable only as mischievous. “Hey Eren. I want you to show you something. I’m sure you’ll like it, I promise you can't see anything like it anywhere else.”

Eren wasn’t sure if he should be excited or scared, but he rose to his feet and gestured for her to lead him.  "Okay, show me the way." Her grin widened and she grabbed his hand, trailing him along after her as she moved through the maze of the carnival without pause.  Eren nearly walked into her when she came to a sudden stop in front of what was easily the largest tent of the entire carnival.  She was talking to the large man in front of the tent, the bearded man nodded a fraction before letting them inside, and Eren could have sworn he heard the guy sniff him as he passed.

There was already a massive crowd outside of the tent when they entered, Eren wasn’t sure what to expect as he looked around at the crowd.  There was too great a variety of guests to guess. He snapped back to the real world when he felt Petra tugging on him again.  He let himself be dragged along as she pushed through the people. 

Eren could barely see within the tent it was practically pitch black, he wondered how Petra was managing not to smash into another person every three seconds.  From the looks of things, and how most of the audience was already seated the show was going to start soon, whatever it was. Petra kept pulling him with her as she found a pair of empty seats. 

Eren leaned over once he was seated, “What is this? What am I about to see?” he whispered, trying to keep his voice down as he noticed how quickly the tent was approaching a dead silence.

She laughed quietly and patted his leg before pointing to the ring in the center of the tent. “Just watch. You’ll see in a second. I promise you’ll like it.” Her tone was hushed, but full of excitement, the entire tent was buzzing with it.

Eren sighed and decided to do as he was told, leaning back in his chair and crossing his hands in his lap, trying not to focus on the burning on his cheek.  Then he felt the entire room begin to fill with a soft melody and the heavy sound of a drumbeat.  As the music grew he saw two points of light spur to life in the center of the tent, illuminating the silhouette of a person as rigid and unmoving as a pillar. The two balls of light illuminating the man, or woman for that matter, were sparkling like firecrackers. The objects dangling from the individual almost looked like they were oozing molten metal onto the floor of the tent, sending sparks into the air that fell and flowed like dust motes.

Eren felt himself lean forward in his seat, hands gripping the edge as the person began to move. The balls of molten flame swinging around their body with incredible grace.  It was mesmerizing and Eren felt his brain cease to form coherent thought as he watched the person begin to dance.  It was like nothing he had ever seen before as well as the most beautiful thing he has witnessed in his life.

The figure in the center was wearing a hood from what he could tell in the few seconds their head was illuminated by the falling sparks.  It was almost as if they were being surrounded by stars in the darkness of the tent. Eren felt himself gasp in shock and awe as the dancer allowed the sources of their flame to collide over their head, creating a massive upshot of sparks to fly above them before slowing floating down to their feet as the continued to dance, always in tuned to the music.

The dance increased in speed and Eren felt his eyes widen in amazement as the dancer was surrounded in dripping flames, scattered around them like glitter in the air. Until the song began to slow as it came to an end and the dancer was surrounded in an explosion of sparks before they faded into the air and the dancer too had vanished with the light back into the darkness of the tent.  The audience broke out into applause as Eren continued to stare where the dancer had just stood, spots still dancing across his vision.

Eren leaned back in his seat and finally let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He had completely forgotten Petra was there with him until she spoke up nearly causing him to jump, “So?" She hopped up her feet and beamed at him as lights began to turn on and people began to quickly file out of the tent.  "How did you like it?”

He blinked, looked at Petra, and grinned, “That was absolutely amazing, Petra. What was that? _Who_ was that?”

Petra got that mischievous grin on her face once again.  "You'll find out soon enough, think of it as a right of passage and a welcome to the carnival.  I don't think he actually intended to put on a show today, that's why we could get seats."

"Wait, he?" Eren was befuddled.

"Yea, he." Petra said with a smile.

"But. That person was so small, I thought for sure it was a girl."

Petra opened her mouth to respond but Eren saw something catch her attention from the corner of her eye. "Oh Levi, there you are! I took Eren to the show, he's speechless." She was beaming at him.

Levi rolled his eyes and made some sort of grumbled response Eren couldn't understand.  It was probably rude because Petra slapped him lightly on the arm once he got within arms reach.  Upon closer inspection Eren noted Levi had changed since earlier in the day. Despite the fact that the summer heat was still well into effect even in the now late hour of the day, he was wearing what looked like heavy cargo pants and holding a hoodie under his arm.

Obviously Levi was just completely insane or just not human, because that's just not normal.

Levi looked down and his eyes latched onto Eren's face. Eren's bloody, bandaged, bruised to hell, face.  _Oh shit_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Renn: SO CLOSE TO 5K NOOOOOOO srsly we were only 66 words short...  
> Ashke wouldn't let me write dicks 66 times to make it even. >BT HMPH.
> 
> Also for anyone interested in what the performance looks like look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4OIIXx-rWk


	4. Come With Me Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The universe hates Eren.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow an update in under 2 months?! Longer than the last chapter?!? whuuuut.

Eren watched in fear as Levi's expression hardened as his eyes began scanning over the damage.  He felt before he saw Levi's hand shoot forward and latch onto his shoulder, fingers digging into the muscle like talons. Who the hell has fingers that boney anyway, Christ. The shorter man leaned forward, closely examining the bandages adorning his face. The area surrounding the worst of the cuts had already begun to swell, but the darkness impeded further investigation into the severity of the wounds.  Eren felt his blood run cold as Levi looked him straight in the eye.

"What the fuck did I say about getting into a god damn fight?"

Eren jumped as he heard Levi’s voice, it was cold and laced with not so veiled anger. He tried his best to keep his face hidden, but flinched as he felt the fingers dig into his shoulder with more force. Obviously demanding some sort of answer. Eren hated the way Levi's look of cold fury made him tuck his tail and cower. He hated feeling afraid, he was not a coward and he was most certainly not going to let Mini-Me boss him around.

Eren jerked his head up to glare back at Levi and shoved the arm that was holding him away. “There was this asshole harassing a girl. I tried to use the polite method, but he was drunk as shit and decided to take a swing at me. The guy is currently using dirt as a pillow, so he's not gonna remember anything anyway. Nobody knows it happened and you won't get in trouble because of my 'fuck up', happy?"

He looked away and tried to calm back down, letting his temper get the better of him hadn't been a good idea. As much as Petra would back him up, he knew that pissing Levi off would never end well for him. Short people hold grudges for fucking life.

Eren saw Levi's feet move back, trying to give him some space he guessed. He knew everything he was feeling was apparent. Mikasa had once told him that everything he was feeling was written in all caps across his face at any given point in time. Maybe it was because his eyes were so big.  After all, most emotions are read through your eyes. Maybe that's why Levi was terrifying, he looked perpetually angry and his eyes were narrow and seemingly dark.

Eren heard a sigh from above him, "I assume you patched him up, Petra?" Eren glanced up to see Petra nod and Levi pinched the bridge of his nose and blew air out of his nose.  Eren wondered vaguely if he had frequent headaches or something. Levi nodded at her, "Thanks."  

Eren watched as Petra looked to him with a soft smile, "I'll see you later then, Eren." She nodded to Levi and proceeded to speed out of the show tent, leaving him alone once again with the scrooge.  He wished he had been able to find a polite way to join her before she had bolted from the tent at Mach speed. He didn't have it in him to handle the lecture he knew was coming. He fidgeted under the intense gaze he could feel boring into the top of his skull from the pair of narrow grey eyes.

It was so hard to tell if Levi was feeling anything other than anger. His expression didn't ever really change as far as Eren could tell; so far he had yet to see it altered by anything other than a raised brow.

Eren's earlier anger had disappeared while Levi had continued to stare at him; he was left with the weaker version of himself that he absolutely despised. He hated how his body naturally curved in as an attempt to minimize his presence, like a cowering dog. As if doing that would soften the blows, even if they weren’t going to be physical.

"How the fuck did you let a drunk land a hit on you? Hasn’t anyone taught you how to fucking dodge?"

Eren almost jumped at the sudden snap of Levi's voice in the now completely vacant show tent.  He glanced up to see Levi's face was slightly... pained?  It was like he was trying to force his face to not look pissed off.  Eren shoved his hands in his pockets once again and looked away, “I didn’t see it coming. He swung so fast that I barely had time to dodge." He looked up at Levi who appeared to be waiting patiently for him to finish. "I moved enough that he missed my eye, so what's the big deal. Nothing's broken. I'm fine.”

Eren watched as the shorter pushed his hands through his disheveled black hair, pushing it towards the back of his skull with a heavy sigh.  His senior leaned back and rested his hands, with fingers intertwined, at the base of his skull looking at Eren with mild frustration.  

Eren rubbed his hands nervously. The teen hadn’t really taken the time to really look at Levi before and now he was standing five feet away from him posed like some sort of Armani model.  Levi was short, that was a given, but his attire from earlier today didn’t do him justice.  The tank he was wearing now clung to him like a second skin, probably due to sweat, showing off a now obvious and unfair amount of muscle tone. Not to mention now that Eren was actually looking he could see that the older male was decked out in tattoos.

His selves were clearly not finished, dissipating into fine outlines the closer they got towards his neck, but they were so intricate and extensive Eren couldn't help but wonder how long he had been having work done.  As Eren let his eyes wander he noticed that there were scars under most of the tattoos. They were well hidden under the ink, and Eren didn't want to think of what could possibly cause a scar like that.

On top of all the tattoos, Eren noted that Levi was also sporting all sorts of piercings. Two in his left eyebrow, one on each side of his lower lip, gauged ear lobes, and two small loops in the top of his right ear. But what caught his attention at the moment, were the two on each of Levi’s collarbones, finally revealed because of that blessed black tank.

Eren felt his brow furrow in confusion; the piercings couldn't have been there earlier.  There were so many Eren was sure he would have noticed them, he was oblivious and not particularly observant but he wasn't _that_ clueless about his surroundings. Maybe he was required to take them out while he was working?

"You need to pay more attention to your surroundings, kid." Eren flinched and his eyes snapped back to Levi's. Oh god, had he been staring? How long had he been staring at him? Fuck. Good job, Eren, way to make literally everyone uncomfortable for the rest of your time here. "If you’re gonna get in a fight,  _especially_  with a drunk, you need to have fast enough reflexes to not get hit somewhere that’ll show or fuck you up when you’re working.”  Eren was running out of things to offer up to deities for the good luck he seemed to be reaping today. Praise to the flying spaghetti monster, saving its children from public humiliation for yet another day.

Levi was frowning again and Eren did his best to not look like he hadn't been ogling the fuck out of his superior. "Be more careful, moron. I can cover for you with Erwin tomorrow, just say I kicked you and your ass fell off of something. You look uncoordinated enough for it to pass."

The inked up jackass was pretty much calling him an idiot and a newborn calf in one go, but it was still a bit nicer than before. A bit. He would just chalk that underlying dickish-ness up to Levi’s abrasiveness. Levi was after all offering to put his own job at risk to cover for him, even if he said it in a weird round about way. So Eren just nodded eagerly and let himself grin like an idiot, “Yeah, of course. Thank you Levi. Um, just one question, when and where can I shower and sleep? Erwin said something about having a place for me to stay here and, uh, I feel really gross.”

Levi recoiled slightly from Eren when he stood up. "Yea you’re covered in sweat, dirt and blood, brat, it's fuckin’ disgusting." Levi wrinkled his nose obviously revolted and Eren felt himself blush slightly from embarrassment and he began to fidget nervously.

"Sorry," he mumbled quietly.

"I’m guessing Erwin didn’t tell you all the details then, because when the fuck would he ever be that helpful." Eren watched as Levi dropped his arms and grimaced staring at Eren with a look of great distaste. "You’re staying with me." Eren renounced his faith to the cursed spaghetti monster. The universe clearly fucking hated him. It’s probably fucking laughing at him, right now. "I heard your little friends joined up with us too so you three may be able to get your own place to sleep later but for now you’re crashing with me and Hanji.” Eren felt his stomach tighten with nerves as Levi's scowl deepened at the mention of the person named Hanji. He didn't want to go stay somewhere with roommates who clearly didn't get along. This was going to be pure hell.

Eren scratched the back of his neck, attempting to ease his nerves. "Oh okay." He cleared his throat for fear of his voice cracking. "Well, uh. Hopefully I won’t be in your hair for too much longer, so I hope you don’t mind me intruding... for right now, I mean...” He could feel his face burning from embarrassment. He sounded like an idiot, a barely verbal idiot.

Levi snapped his fingers in front of Eren’s eyes to get his attention, making him snap back to attention. "Stop burning what remains of your face and let's get moving." Eren stared as the angry raven turned on his heels and moved to exit the show tent.  He addressed the boy over his shoulder without looking back, "I'm not waiting for you, move your ass. Last time I checked your cheek is not connected to your fucking legs, brat."

Eren sputtered at Levi’s comment, his cheeks becoming even hotter than they already were. He didn’t even have enough time to say something about it, before Levi was already walking away from him.

He jogged to catch up to Levi nearly out of breath by the time he caught up. Seriously, how could someone so short walk so fast? "So, brat, see anything interesting besides drunk idiots and the dregs of society?" Levi wasn't looking at him, and he looked as bored as he had when they were working the carousel earlier.  It really did look like he didn't even want an answer from Eren.  Still he asked so...

“Uh, actually, yeah! Petra made me go to this show right before you came over.  It was awesome. This guy was spinning balls of fire or something it was really fucking cool! I’ve never seen anything like it. He didn't even get grazed by the flames" Eren didn't care if he was practically bouncing as he walked; just thinking about the show was making him feel giddy again.

Levi merely scoffed, "I’m pretty sure that guy has a ton of burns, smart people don't fuck with fire.  And it's called poi, it’s a form of dance."  

"I’m really glad Petra dragged me to it. I wanna meet the person who does it too, I bet they're really cool.”

He turned his head and looked at Eren. "I know the asshole that does that act,” he paused looking away from Eren and fixing his eyes forward once again. “He’s pretty much the same as the other threats to public safety working here. Don't start a little fucking fan boy crush over one show.”

“What’s he like? Is there any way you can introduce me? When’s the next show? I really want to go see it again.”  The more Eren talked the more he saw Levi's eyes narrow and his lips continue to turn down into an even deeper frown.  Eren briefly wondered if he would have access to the Internet while he was here.  He could probably find out more about Poi with the aid of Google since Levi was obviously not too eager to play twenty questions.

"Eager aren't you, brat?" Eren waited quietly as Levi regarded him for a moment before turning his eyes to focus on their destination. "Maybe someday I’ll introduce you. Or you could use your brain and find him yourself." He jerked his chin upwards in indication. "There's where you'll be staying with me and the freak."

Eren looked away from Levi to stare at the RV they were walking towards, it was clean looking.  Definitely nicer than any of the other things he had seen at the carnival so far. Not that that could be used as much of a compliment given how decrepit everything was there, but it did genuinely look pretty nice.

Levi walked straight to the door of the RV, keys in hand to unlock it  "Welcome to the fuckin’ club house, kid." he had barely turned the key in the lock when the door flew open and he was none too gracefully knocked clear of entryway. Levi stumbled backwards and fell onto Eren. He froze in shock for a few seconds and Eren seemed to have forgotten how to breathe before Levi roughly pushed away from him with a look of disgust.

Eren felt mildly insulted by Levi's look of revolt before he remembered exactly how filthy he actually was. Was Levi some sort of germaphobe or something? Before Eren could continue his train of thought it was interrupted when a pair of arms wrapped tightly around him and attempted to force all of the air in his lungs to evacuate the premises.

Eren could barely move, but he was able to see a mess of brown hair and feel breasts pressed up against his arm. “Uh. Um. Hi?” he wheezed, wincing as the arms somehow increased the force of their death grip. Was this person part anaconda or something? He was already starting to feel light headed.

Eren vaguely saw Levi spin around and move to wrap his hands around the neck of the blur from the door, which was now attached to Eren. "Hanji, what the fuck have I said about the door!" 

As quick as the person attached themself to him, they released him with a squeal darting behind him to hide from Levi. Oh god, if looks could kill. “Oh my god, he’s as cute as Erwin said he was. NO! He's even more adorable, just look at that face!" He felt himself being grabbed by the shoulders and spun around to face the maniac, nearly falling over while attempting to regain his balance. "Hello, Eren! I’m Hanji! Nice to meet you!" He felt his hand suddenly being crushed between an unfamiliar pair and shaken vigorously. "Levi, I bet you are just dying to set Erwin's eyebrows on fire, huh? What a cutie you are!” 

“Uh, hi. Nice to meet you too.” Hanji let out a shrill noise of joy again and began rambling things about what a gentleman Eren obviously was. Eren looked at Levi with bewilderment, and minor fear, “uh, is she... normally like this?” 

Levi moved between the two of them and grabbed Hanji's hand at the wrist to forcibly direct the frazzle haired maniac away from the boy. "For fuck's sake, Hanji," He yanked harder and pulled the giggling idiot closer to himself. "Give the kid five seconds before you assault him."

"Noooo," Hanji was pouting like a small child, eyes wide with false hurt, as Levi yanked them away from Eren. "No fair stingy, I didn't even get to finish saying hello!"

Levi turned to face Eren, his features plagued with annoyance, "This fucking manic shitlord is Hanji. They're not a woman, they're some weird sort of fucking alien doctors can't _or won't_ name. Personally I prefer shitty glasses."

"Oh Levi, you're so meeeaaaan." Hanji continued to glare in hurt and looked about three seconds from stomping their foot like a child. "What _grumpy pants_ is _trying_ to say is that I don't identify as female, I'm a wonderful little transgender queer in a carnival full of rainbow diversity."  As if to illustrate their point they mimed a rainbow in the air with their hands.

" _Do not_ ask them why if you don't want a conversation that will keep you up all night and missing your first real shift the next morning." From looking at Levi's face, Eren could tell that was not an exaggeration.

Eren turned his attention to the still-pouting adult standing beside Levi. “Sorry for misgendering you, Hanji. I promise I won’t do it again, I haven't ever really met a trans individual in person before.”

Hanji laughed and escaped Levi’s grasp to hug Eren again with a squeal. “Oh, it’s okay, Eren! It’s not like you would know. Levi should have said something earlier, so I definitely don’t blame you, not ever.”

Eren tried his hardest not to laugh as he saw Hanji stick their tongue out at Levi, who returned the gesture by flipping Hanji the bird. Eren was relieved that he hadn't managed to horribly offend Hanji five seconds after meeting them. As crazy and overly friendly as they were, they seemed really nice.

As Hanji continued to hug Eren and go off on his ear, Eren saw Levi run his hands up over his face into his hair from the corner of his vision.  The short man was screwing his eyes shut like he had some sort of horrific migraine. "If they start bothering you, kid. Don’t be afraid to use force to get them off.  There is no polite way of removing that idiot from your personal space."

The new bodily appendage he had acquired named Hanji continued to tug on him as they switched to yanking his arm, pulling him towards the RV. Despite Levi’s advice, Eren didn’t want to be rude by physically pushing Hanji off.  Hanji seemed just a little over eager, he was sure they'd calm down once he was no longer a stranger; he wasn't that interesting after all.  They'd get bored of him quickly.

"Make yourself at home, you get a bunk-bed with the weirdo. Just make sure you shower before you get in those sheets, I don’t tolerate filth in my space." Eren looked up as Levi spoke to watch him as he climbed the steps up to the door of the RV. "And don’t let Hanji read your palm either if you wanna get any sleep."

He watched Levi retreat into the RV with that ominous warning and then turned to Hanji in hope that they would let him go shower. “Um, Hanji, is it possible if I can go shower as well? I sort of really... well, stink.”

Hanji grinned at him and peeled themself off at last, looking at him with eerily large eyes. “Levi takes foreeeever to shower and we only have one, so you’ll just have to wait till he's done." Eren opened his mouth in question before Hanji interrupted his thought. "Oh and trust me, don't ever try and take the first shower he'll make you pay for it later." They giggled seemingly out of control for a minute at whatever memory of Levi's wrath they seemed to be recalling. "Oh poor Molbit." Eren watched in confusion as Hanji wiped a tear from their eye, attempting to contain their mirth. "Ah, anyway, how about we sit out here and talk? That way you don’t get anything dirty in the RV and Levi won't skin you.”

Eren laughed, “Yeah, okay. Thanks, Hanji.” Hanji cackled and slapped Eren square between the shoulders, making him choke on his own spit and begin a short coughing fit.  Hanji however, seemed un-phased and simply continued on with their tirade.

“I’m surprised I’m not already dead, I thank my killer physique. So! Eren!" Hanji practically pirouetted as they spun around to sit on the steps to the RV door, patting the spot next to them enthusiastically. "What brings you here to our little home for the deranged and delightfully odd?”

Eren smiled and took the seat while Hanji practically vibrated from what was probably excitement. "Well, I joined up with a few of my friends.  We all grew up together and wanted to stick together no matter what we did, so this seemed like a good idea. We could all work here and be able to make a living. Also working at a traveling carnival, well it just sounded cool you know." He looked to Hanji with a warm smile.

Hanji stared back with eyes full of tears, yanking Eren's head to their chest with a sob "Oh Eren, you're so sweet!"  Eren laughed, at least this time their hold was gentle and not bone crushing. "I swear I won't let that curmudgeon ruin you.  You are too sweet for this world to lose."  They lifted Eren's head and bore their eyes into his, expression hard with sincerity. "Eren, you must promise me, you won't let the midget ruin your beautiful happy self."

"Okay okay," he felt mildly uncomfortable and Hanji continued to stare at him with those massive eyes. "I promise, Hanji." 

Hanji released him before pulling him back into another hug, this time with a reasonable amount of strength before letting go and standing up to brush the dirt off their rear. “Well Eren, I think you’ll like it here. We're all like one big family, except for grumpy, and we always look out for our own. Never be afraid to ask for help, okay?" Eren smiled warmly and nodded to them, " Oh, I think Levi should be done. Go ahead and jump on in the shower, I grabbed mine earlier. Also you can have the lower bunk, call dibs on top bunk.”

Eren chuckled at Hanji’s odd behavior and nodded his head in thanks before getting up and stepping into the RV. It was definitely no luxury vehicle, but the thing had its own sense of home-y charm to it. It was cozy, to say the least, and almost impeccably clean. Eren was sure the latter was thanks to Levi; Hanji didn't really seem to be the kind of person who would be enthusiastic about keeping their living space clean and well organized.

Speaking of Levi, he was nowhere in sight, “Um, Levi?" Eren called out, trying to peek around in search of the short male. "Are you done with the shower?”

Eren turned towards the sound of a door opening, watching Levi emerge from the small room that was clearly the bathroom, in nothing but a towel.  Fucking hell, "Yea. Now get your ass clean before you start getting your filth all over my furniture." Eren could only stare. Really, it was all his brain was capable of. As soon as Levi had stepped out, Eren’s brain short-circuited and pulled a blue screen of death. That should be illegal. No one should allowed to be that fucking hot.  Since when did steam purposefully waft around a person like some sort of overly exaggerated CG effect in a goddamn movie?  Jesus, rain down a holy fire and smite this child for being too fucking gay.

But Eren silently thanked god that Levi hadn't even bothered to look Eren's way when addressing him. Eren heard Levi yawn as he began to walk towards the back of the RV, most likely to his bedroom. Just as Eren was stepping into the bathroom he heard the sound of someone stumble. "Fuck!" Levi slammed one of his hands into the wall to right him, Eren wondered if he had tripped on the step into the back of the residence.  Eren felt his blood run cold when he realized Levi was returning his stare, eyes narrowed, looking murderous.  "Hurry the fuck up brat.  I wanna sleep and your fucking elephant walk will wake me up."  

"Uh, s-sorry.” Eren mumbled. Smooth as fuck, good job. Levi moved into the bedroom and kicked the door shut behind him with a loud bang. Eren sighed and moved into the bathroom, listening to Hanji's quiet sniggering from the RV door.

The bathroom was small and Eren was afraid that if he moved too much he would end up knocking everything on the shelves onto the floor and put a hole in one of the walls. He did his best to carefully maneuver into the shower and turn the dial as far as he dared. Waiting for a moment to allow the temperature to properly adjust before stepping into the stream.

As soon as the water began to run over his brown mop of hair he let out a pleased sigh.  The warm water felt amazing and he stood in place letting it roll over him in gentle waves, relaxing under the light pounding of the showerhead. After a minute or so he looked around for some shampoo and body wash and scoffed when he found most of the products were Old Spice. Of course. Still it was better than having to use Axe, at the very least this stuff smelled pleasant and mild. Eren located the shampoo & body wash combination bottle and poured out a generous amount in his hand rubbing it into his scalp, letting the suds roll down over his body before he moved to scrub off the layers of sweat and dirt caked onto his skin.

After he had rinsed off, Eren stood under the spray of water for a few moments, breathing slowly and taking in the feeling of being clean. But as much as Eren wanted to stay in the steam filled haven and let his mind wander, he knew that the RV did have a limited water supply. Not to mention Levi had asked Eren, well told him, to take a fast shower. He turned the dial down and winced as the water turned cold just before shutting off.

Only once the water was off and Eren moved to grope outside of the shower did he realize his error. He had no towel. He was fine with borrowing and since they had offered him the shower before he had gotten his belongings from the group home, Eren had assumed they were willing to loan him one. The problem was that no one, including himself but what else was new, had possessed the forethought to tell him where the fuck the towels were before he had soaked himself from head to toe.  There was only one thing he could do, because stepping out now would mean certain death by the hands of an angry and short punk dickhead. Eren groaned and did his best to overcome the desire to bang his head on the wall out of frustration. After all, if he left any damage with his thick skull he didn't want to think of what Levi might do to him. Eren rubbed his face nervously and cleared his throat. “Um, Hanji? Levi? Uh... Where are the towels?”

Eren heard an ominous rumbling from the direction of the bedroom.  Eren briefly reconsidered whether or not he believed in magical creatures like dragons or trolls. "Hanji went out to get more water since you decided to take a fucking five hour shower, RV’s aren’t hooked up into a plumping system, shit for brains." Was that demonic echo in his voice normal or was Eren just hallucinating now? "Don’t waste the water so you can daydream, brat." Eren listened to the angry, how can you even make footsteps sound angry anyway, footsteps approach the door to bathroom. He nearly jumped when Levi suddenly rapped his knuckles loudly on the thin panel of wood that was the door. Eren stepped out of the tub carefully, because the last thing he needed was to slip and give himself a concussion on the toilet, and moved to open the door before pausing and looking down at his bare form.  He didn't have anything to cover himself with.  _Shit_.

He glanced around for literally anything he could use to cover himself, he'd settle for a washcloth and found nothing. Door it was then. Eren moved as much of himself behind the door as he could before he began to open it. Doing his best to keep himself concealed Eren extended one arm outward towards Levi while keeping the rest of his body as covered as possible behind the door.  At the very least he had successfully managed to hide his crotch.

Eren avoided looking at Levi letting his eyes wander to literally every other object in the room as he mumbled out, “U-uh, sorry about that.”

Eren waited, still avoiding eye contact as Levi simply stared for what felt like thirty minutes.Eren could have sworn he heard a stifled snicker, but by the time he moved his eyes over Levi's face he found the same impassive expression.

"Here," Levi tossed the towel into his hand, and he managed not to fumble and drop it. Truly saving the good reflexes for the times that matter, not protecting your face from serious injury but avoiding flashing your new roommate, good job brain, you have these priorities down. "Try not to fall and smash up your face anymore than you already have, I'm not sure it can take much more abuse." Levi said before he turned and walked back towards the bedroom. 

Eren felt his face burn and hurriedly wrapped the towel around his waist, resisting the urge to retort with something about considering lifts.

"Thanks for keeping your dick behind the door, by the way." Levi called over his shoulder.

 Eren forgot he was hanging onto the ends of the towel until he felt it hit his feet. He bent down in a hurry to grab it, but promptly hit his forehead on the doorknob in front of him “Ow! Fuck! God damn it!” Eren stood but bent over slightly, holding his forehead. He hissed at the new throbbing sensation in his skull, he could feel his pulse in the swollen area of his cheek. Fuck literally everything; fuck everything that has ever fucking existed.

“Oh my, if I had known I was going to get a peep show I would have brought some bills.”

Eren hadn't heard the click of the door to the RV opening but quickly determined that his face could be the ultimate turning point of global warming. Today was probably the most embarrassing day of his life, worse than the time Mikasa had offered to go with him to a porn shop and buy something for him when she had preformed a virus scan on their computer. Sweet Jesus.  That fucking trauma would never heal, not with a million years of therapy, and this probably wouldn't either.

"Seriously, nice butt 10/10 would recommend." Hanji snickered

Eren snatched up the towel to cover himself, scrambled into the bathroom and promptly shut the door in Hanji’s face as they waggled their eyebrows at him.  Eren was slowly feeling the desire to burn down the entire world rise within him.

Still Eren could hear Hanji rolling around in a fit of laughter. "Hanji, I’m not gonna cover for you if the kid goes to Erwin about sexual harassment." Levi shouted.  Eren lay on the floor and attempted to dissolve himself into the linoleum. He quietly wished for death as he listened to Hanji's laughter dissolve into grotesque gurgling noises. Were they dying? "Fucking  _gross!_  Hanji for fuck’s sake, _get off the god damn floor._ " Eren heard loud thumping move from the bedroom to right outside his door and a loud yelp. Hanji's gurgling had stopped but the giggling quickly resumed.  Eren yelped as Levi shoved the door the bathroom open, smashing into his shin. "I don’t care if you have a broken limb or are choking on your own spit.  Everyone has five seconds to shut the fuck up and go to bed."

Eren watched Levi's feet retreat to the back of the RV before he heard the thud of something landing on a mattress. After what seemed like an eternity, Eren stood and moved towards the back of the RV. He tiptoed his way to the bunk beds, glancing up to see if Hanji was in their own bunk already. The mess of long brown hair and light snoring told him that Hanji was indeed in their bunk, and he breathed out a sigh of relief.

Eren noted that one of the two, probably Hanji, had left him a pair of pajamas on top of his sheets. Eren smiled and slipped into them as quickly as possible after confirming the other two were asleep. He slid his way under the covers and into his bed, the feel of the cool sheets making him sigh in content.

It was the first time in a long time he finally had a bed to himself.  For the last year, he had been sharing a bed with Armin.  The group home they had all been staying at was small with four people to a room and two beds.  He had missed the smell of clean sheets and being able to spread out as much as you wanted without ever randomly coming into contact with a foreign pair of limbs. Not to mention, as much as he loved Armin as a dear friend, people who talk in their sleep are creepy as fuck.

Eren fidgeted for a while before finally situated himself on his stomach, arms folded under the pillow, he let out a light hum of content. Today had lasted way too long, and contained far too much excitement.  Not only had he been forced into the hands of a midget with anger issues, but he had also barely managed to avoid having his face rearranged by a drunk, and let no one forget ever that he had also succeeded in flashing one of his new roommates.

Eren looked over to the large queen sized bed Levi had obviously claimed for himself long ago. Levi looked different in his sleep, his usually angry face actually looked sort of kind when he wasn't glaring at you. Or maybe it was just too dark for Eren to actually see his face and it was still as angry and terrifying as when the shorter was awake. 

But despite Levi’s short temper, sarcastic remarks, and weird obsession with cleaning, he was kind of likable. When Eren finally looked away from Levi's tiny sleeping form, he almost screamed before he flung himself back, knocking the back of his head on the wall. 

"Fuck. Fucking hell. What the fuck?!" Eren groaned, his voice slowly dying as he did his best not to wake the demon sleeping in the other bed.  He rubbed at the back of his head before glaring up at the pair of eyes that had almost caused him to regurgitate his heart through his windpipe. Hanji was hanging the top half of their body over the edge of the top bunk peering at him owlishly, a familiar glint in their eyes and a massive grin.

If anyone needed a visual of what the cheesier cat's grin looked like, Hanji's face at this moment would be a perfect representation, Eren had no clue how someone's lips could stretch so far and continue to expose teeth.  It was a bit unnerving. "Uh... Is there something wrong?" Eren whispered, brow furrowing in confusion.  Hanji tilted their head, massive tangle of hair swinging behind their head and stared at him in silence, which by the way was fucking creepy. At the very least Eren was glad that they had stopped grinning at him.

After what felt like five or six minutes they finally spoke up with an excited whisper “Levi’s single and his dick is pierced.”

Before Eren could even comprehend what had just came out of Hanji’s mouth, they were gone and a loud snore came from above. Eren just gaped like a fish out of water, feeling that familiar sensation of liquid fire from before flood every blood vessel in his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ashke: Hanji is me.  
> Renn: Jfc
> 
> hanjisbitch.tumblr.com & rennslyaer.tumblr.com


	5. Sleepwalking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't fuck with someone else's pop-tarts, that's just a dick move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Renn: I wasn't lying this time when I said I was working on it...  
> Ashke: hahahahahahaha

When the sound of movement reached Eren's ears he felt his heart drop through the floor. Oh god, Levi wasn't awake, was he? Eren glanced over towards Levi's small form; the older man was shifting and grumbling, apparently in his sleep. Eren breathed out a sigh of relief. He did not want to be around if the smaller angry man had been awake when Hanji had tossed out such an inappropriate and  _private_ piece of information.

Eren took a deep breath and rubbed his cheeks harshly until he felt some of the residual burn of embarrassment begin to fade.  He cursed Hanji and their horrific sense of, _obviously_ , sadistic humor, and rolled himself under the sheets. Eren made note to thank whomever invented air conditioning, and that Levi and Hanji understood that no room should ever be above 75º.  Eren felt himself drift off to sleep while trying to keep thoughts of piercings and dicks as out of his mind as they were out of sight.

Eren clenched his eyes at the sound of someone shifting around in their sheets, all he wanted was to fall asleep and remain dead to the world until the morning. When hopefully the incredibly inappropriate information was no longer making his face burn.

“Hey, Eren.”

Eren grimaced and buried his face deeper into the pillow, why wouldn't Hanji just go back to bed.

"Don't ignore me when I'm talking to you, brat."

Eren opened his eyes again to see Levi standing at the edge of his bed, staring down at him silver eyes narrowed to slits.  Either Eren was losing it, or he was losing it.  He could have sworn that Levi was asleep in his bed not even a minute ago.  Eren didn’t know what was going on or why but he could most certainly feel the panic building up in his chest, making his stomach twist and churn. 

“Uh, yeah? Is, um...  something... wrong?” He inched tentatively away from Levi and further back on his bed so his back was nearly pressing against the wall.

Levi gave him a small smirk; his eyes were barely more than a silver glimmer in the dark and the rest of his face was barely visible.  But still that look in his eyes was making Eren’s heart start to race. “So...  do you want to see it?”

It took Eren a moment to even process the words.

When it finally dawned on him exactly what Levi maybe meant Eren panicked, he tried to look anywhere but at Levi.  Had Levi overheard Hanji talking about...  Eren forced his lungs to expand as Levi continued to stare down at him calmly. Step one, breathe, step two, _deny everything_. “S-see what, exactly?” _Smooth_.

When he heard Levi move closer, he jumped and snapped his eyes back onto the shorter man who was now leaning forward resting a hand on his bed. Levi’s free hand was sliding down his side before stopping right at the waistband of his boxer briefs. It was weird Eren had gotten more of a boxers feel from him earlier.  Still, Eren couldn’t help but watch as thin fingers lightly tugged and toyed with the elastic band clinging tightly to sharply defined hips. Eren also couldn’t help the semi he was now sporting, tugging the sheets with one hand to cover himself.

Eren really wanted to know what the actual fuck is going on. Levi was undeniably hot as fuck, but there was no way that this short douche bag he had just met would be doing this right now.  ...Right?

“So, do you want to? You've been staring at me all day brat, you're not exactly... subtle.”

Eren couldn’t believe this was happening.  His mouth went dry.  Eren glanced up at the dark haired man above him and tentatively nodded his head. Levi smirked, "thought so," he whispered as he began to inch the article of clothing down painstakingly slow. Eren took in a sharp intake of breath as he watched the fine trail of hair down Levi's naval grow just before it reached-

Eren was startled out of his reverence when he heard a mild creak rather close to his head. He opened his eyes slightly, when had he closed them?  He furrowed his brow, why was he facing the wall all of the sudden, he had just been looking the other way.  Eren turned over to search for the source of the sound.  He was confronted by two large tannish blobs to the side of his head, why was everything so smudgy and why did he feel so exhausted?  His level of confusion began to override the drowsiness fogging up his brain.

Eren was slapped into alertness however as Hanji was unceremoniously ripped from their bed by the leg, slamming face first onto the floor with a high pitched screech that sounded more akin to a squeal.  Eren slammed himself against the wall.  He hissed and reached back to hold the back of his head with one hand, while trying to hold back tears from the pain.  His poor head had already taken enough beatings already when would it end.

Eren tried to pull in his legs towards his chest, but they were twisted up in the sheets.  Wrapped around them like an anaconda around its prey.  Eren furiously worked at them with his free hand as blinked trying to clear his vision to the scene in front of him.

Levi hopped off from the edge of his bed and stared down at Hanji who remained plastered onto the floor, posed like some sort of cartoon character, legs jutting out like a frog and arms at right angles.

"A Lannister always pays their debts,  _shitlord_."  Eren stared at Levi in pure shock and tensed when the shorter man faced him.  Levi looked down towards Hanji before nudging them with a foot.  "Get up, shit nugget, stop playing it up."

"No need to be such a _tyrion-cal_ midget, Levi.  I'm just trying to help a bro out."  Hanji crowed at Levi's retreating form.

"Never say that word again."

"Come on, _breh_ , don't be like that."

"Never say that one either."

Eren blinked a few times before rubbing at his eyes and collapsing back into the comfort of the bed.  He groaned at the drumming in the back of his skull and the pain in his eyes.  He clenched his eyes to force the pain of sleep away as he rolled over to watch Hanji push themselves across the floor with their face was still pressed into the carpet.  Eren wondered briefly how many times they had been dropped on their head as a child.  "Uh hey.  Hanji, what time is it?"

Hanji froze in place on the floor and for a moment Eren wondered if they had suffocated in the carpet.  As he began to attempt to remember the process of CPR, Hanji sprung into the air and whirled around to face him.  That manic grin stretching their face as they beamed at him, "Well hello, sleepyhead! It's," they dramatically whipped out their arm and stared down their nose at their watch, who wears a watch while they sleep, "six in the morning!"

Eren stared at Hanji incredulously and when he realized they were actually serious, he proceeded to bury his face in his pillow with a groan.  Why would anyone wake up so early, there was no godly reason to ever wake up before the fucking sun had even gotten its ass outta bed and properly into the sky.  He let out a string of profanities into the plushness of his pillow.

"What was that?  I can't hear you when you talk into a pillow, silly buns."

Eren looked up from his pillow at Hanji whose Cheshire smirk had subsided into a softer smile. Wait, when had they moved to the edge of his bed?  "Why is he up so early, and why did he make so much noise at six in the morning?"

Hanji grinned at him, dropping back onto the floor and leaned against the edge of his bed. Hanji obviously didn't have a very good concept of personal space.  Hanji turned to look back in the direction Levi had retreated to.  "We normally get up this early, we've got to make sure the carnival is up and running in time after all!  Also _Tyrion_ over there is just mad, because I let you in on a secret."

Hanji waggled their eyebrows suggestively and cackled as Eren's face turned beat red. Eren had hoped that maybe he could get away with knowing that little piece of information.  That maybe Levi could chalk Eren's red face up to the heat or being stupid.  But no, god or whatever had some sort of stick up their ass as usual, and now that Levi knew that Eren knew.  Levi would know Eren was fucking thinking about his dick whenever he couldn't look him in the eye.

"Hanji, if you want to be funny you're gonna have to do better than shitty game of thrones puns."  Levi snapped from the other room.

Eren buried his face into the pillow again and whimpered, "What the fuck did I do to deserve this...  why me?"

Obviously Hanji had been just eating up the entire situation, because they were still cackling when they walked away from Eren's tragic corpse, lying on the bed wallowing in despair.  "Dibs on first shower, boys!"  Hanji chirped as they moved towards the bathroom.

"Remind me, Hanji, why the fuck I agreed to live with you."  Levi snapped, leaning back just enough for Eren to see him through the bedroom doorway.

"For my fantastic personality and loveable squishy face."  Hanji pushed up their cheeks with their hands, blinking their eyes in a flurry.

"I need to call Mike and tell him that we have a fucking hyena in our exotic animal collection now."  Levi grumbled, rubbing at his temples with his eyes closed, bearing what Eren now recognized as his " _neutral_ " yet sour expression.

"I would be proud to be a member of a matriarchal society of ass kicking cuties!"

"Of course you would" Eren heard Levi sigh as Hanji giggled and jumped into the shower.

Eren peaked out from the edge of his bed to watch Levi as he moved to the fridge and pulled out a jumble of breakfast materials.  "Hey, brat."  Levi turned to stare at Eren who almost jumped out of his skin when Levi addressed him.  "Get out of bed and get over here."

Eren was kind of hoping he wouldn't have to face the short angry man for a little while longer.  But then again, Eren realized he really should have expected this, because when did life ever not give him a grand opportunity to embarrass himself.  _Never_.  The answer was always never.

Eren crawled out of his bed at the slowest pace possible, dreading the upcoming conversation.  He stumbled as he detangled himself from the sheets, nearly falling on his ass more times that he would ever care to admit, cursing as he gave up and used his hands to detangle his feet from the mess.  He hurried to the border of the kitchen and bedroom as he heard Levi begin to tap his foot impatiently.  He leaned around the doorframe nervously.  "Uh yea, what's up?"

"Make yourself useful and cook some eggs, I'll make us all pancakes."

Eren dragged his feet until he was a few feet away from Levi before rubbing at the back of his neck.  He gave the older male the most apologetic smile he could muster as Levi began placing things onto the counter.  "Uh, yeah, I don't know how to cook.”  Levi stared at him.

Eren vaguely noted the thudding sound of the wall clock as the seconds passed in silence.  With each resounding thud Eren felt himself shrivel up slowly under the stone-faced glare of the man before him.  When did short people become so terrifying?  Isn't that not allowed or something?  Short people are supposed to be cute and cuddly like bunnies, not horrifying like miniaturized Komodo dragons.

"Exactly how many brain cells do you even have?"  Eren could feel the judgment from his voice stabbing into him with each perfectly enunciated syllable.

"Seriously how the fuck do you not know how to do something like scramble an egg?  Crack it, put it in a pan, _stir_.  All you have to do is not let it burn, and put it on a plate when you're done. It is actually the simplest meal ever invented."  Levi continued to stare at Eren as though he had suddenly turned purple.

Eren couldn't even apologize for his lack of cooking skills.  Mikasa was the one who cooked the meals, sometimes Armin would too, but neither of them trusted Eren near a stove.  Eren could blame it all on them, but he was pretty sure that would make me look even more like a child than Levi already thought he was.  Eren opened his mouth slightly trying to form some sort of reply that didn't make him sound even more like a brat, but came up with nothing.  Deciding the best solution was to remain silent and not dig himself into an even deeper hole, Eren just gave Levi a weak smile and shrugged his shoulders.

Eren watched as Levi pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily.  "Just make some fucking pop-tarts, I assume you can at least use a fuckin' toaster.  They pop-tarts are Hanji's.  But fuck Hanji right now."

"NOT MY POP-TARTS!!!  I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS, TYRION!!"

"If you make one more joke about that, Hanji, I swear to god I will rip off your dick and feed it to you."  Levi said coolly. Levi looked back to Eren before he shook his head again.  "Can't even fucking cook an egg," he grumbled under his breath before moving farther back in the kitchen towards the front of the RV and stopped in front of one of the higher cabinets.

This wasn't the way Eren had hoped the morning would play out.  Basically everything that could have gone wrong in the last twenty-four hours happened and Eren was pretty sure there was nothing more he could royally screw up. 

Eren watched as Levi reached up to a cabinet above his head scowling in frustration as he stretched onto the tips of his toes to open the cabinet, fingertips barely brushing the handle.  Eren stared as the whole event took place, watching the shorter man struggle as he tried to reach the door of the cabinet.

Eren stared silently for a moment before reaching out and opening the cabinet, he quickly spotted the pop-tarts and pulled them from the cabinet.  "Here, this is them right?"  Eren asked as he turned to look down at Levi and realized he had just made a grave mistake.

_Tell my friends; they didn't do a good enough job convincing me I make bad decisions._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Renn: Don't feel so bad Eren, mine friends can't do that either.  
> Ashke: hahahaha  
> Renn: ....Breh.


End file.
